Improvement in friction-clutches



T. A. WE STO N. Improvement Vi n'Fricton No. 129,914,

Iutch.

atqgnted July 30,1872.

l W W A. Him-Ll THM/MMM ca, ,un (usw/M153 Mauss.)

` 4UNrrED STATES THOMASA. VESTON, OF RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY.'

IM PROVE-MENT IN FRICTION1CLUTCHES.

Specicaton forming part of Letters Patent No. 129,914, dated lJ uly 30,1872; antcdated July 24, 1872.

Specification describing an Improved Friction Clutch or Coupling, invented by THOMAS ALDRIDGE WESTON, of Ridgewood, county of Bergen and State of New Jersey.

My invention consists of a device whereby a i barrel, sleeve, or shaft, or other object to be rotated, may be released from or placed under the control, or partially under the control, of a revolving drivingshaft or its equivalent, the construction and operation of said device being too fully explained hereafter to need preliminary description.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure lV represeuts a vertical section of my invention as applied to a hoisting-crab; Fig. 2 a section on the line l 2, Fig. l 5. Fig. 3, a section on the line 3 4.; and Fig. 4, a view illustrating' a mod* iiication of my invention. p

It should be understood in theoutset that,

` although'I have illustrated my device in Figs.

l, 2, and 3 as applied to the releasing of the barrel of a hoisting-crab from a power-driven shaft and replacing it under the control of the said shaft, my invention is applicable to all machinery in which the stopping and starting of revolving objects are required, and is espe# cially applicable to heavy shaftin g, such as the liainshafts ofrolling-lnills,dredging-machines,

A is a powerdriven shaft, supposed to be turning in the direction of the arrcw,Fig.r2, in standards B andlB, and D is a barrel caused to turn with and under the control of the sh aft,

y or to revolve independently or partially independently of the same, by the device which forms the subject of my invention and which I will now proceed to describe. A disk, G, is secured to the shaftA between the enlarged iiange a of the barrel and a friction-disk, H,

which can revolve and slide freely on the shaft, and which is controlled, in the present instance, by a lever, I, in a manner which will be too v readily understood to need minute description.

In theface of the disk G isan annular recess packed with wood, b, in which is a V-shaped annular groove for receivingthe similarly-,shaped annular rib d on the friction-disk 'H, which, i however, can have a plainface to bear against a similar plain face on the disk G, although I prefer the Vshaped projection and recess and the employment of wood in the manner described, so as to obtain a more determined friction. To a pin on the flange a of the barrel is connected one end, w, of a metal strap, K, the other end, y, of which is connected to a pin on the loose disk H, the strap encircling the periphery of the fixed disk G. When, by operating the lever I, the disk H is brought into contact with the disk G as the latter revolves with the shaft in the direction of the arrow, the said disk H must also beturned in the same direction, and cause the strap K to so embrace the periphery of the disk G that the barrel must turn with the shaft. The ymoment the disk H, however, is withdrawn from the fixed disk G a spring, M, attached to the former disk, as shown in Fig. 3, acting on the pinto which the end :vof the strap is connected, tends to expand the said strap, and to free it from contact with the periphery of the disk. In other words, the barrel and the disk H, whenever the latter is free from the disk G, are always retained in such a relative position by means of the spring M that the strap remains expanded and free from the periphery of the disk G. It should be understood, however, that the strap K has or should have moreY or less tendency when released to expand and relieve itself from the periphery of the disk G, the spring M being a precautionary device to insure prompt expansion.

As the strap may,when expanded, have a tendency, owing to itsflexibility, to sag and assume a position eccentric as regards the periphery of the disk G, it is maintained in a position concentric with the same by a series of pins, m m, on the `flange of the barrel; or the flange vmay have a projecting annular rib to thus retain the expanded strip; or the pins or ilange may be on the disk H.

It Will be seen that, by the above device, not only can the barrel be gradually and easily placed under the control of and entirely released froln the control of the shaft, but may be partially released from the same, as in the lowering a heavy load from the barrel, when the pressure of the friction-disk H against the fixed disk G should be commensurate with the weight of the load and with the speed at which it has to be lowered.

A modification of my invention is illustrated in Fig. 4, in which P represents a power-driven scribing Witnesses.

:is described, so :is to induce the expansion of the strap K.

3. The pins m or their equivalent, arranged on the flange a, or on the friction-disk H, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification in the presence of two sub- THOMAS A. WESTON. Witnesses WM. A. STEEL, J onN K. RUPERTUS. 

